Tributes have flooded in for the R&B and soul singer D’Angelo, who has died aged 51 after a pancreatic cancer diagnosis.
The influential singer was known for pioneering neo-soul, a genre blending R&B with other types of music, including hip-hop and jazz.
Singer Beyoncé thanked D’Angelo for his music on her website.
D’Angelo began his career as a songwriter, and worked alongside big names in music like Lauryn Hill and The Roots.
His song, Lady, from that album reached the number 10 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in 1996.
The RandB and soul singer D’Angelo passed away at the age of 51 following a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, and tributes have been pouring in.
His family urged fans to honor “the gift of song that he has left for the world” and said that the celebrity, whose real name was Michael Eugene Archer, left behind a “legacy of extraordinarily moving music” in a statement.
The well-known singer was credited with creating neo-soul, a style that combined R&B with jazz and hip-hop.
Four Grammy Awards were given to his three albums. Due to its smoldering, one-shot performance, in which D’Angelo seemed to be performing nude, the music video for his popular song Untitled (How Does It Feel) gained notoriety.
On her own website, singer Beyoncé expressed gratitude to D’Angelo for his music. She wrote, “You were the pioneer of neo-soul, and that changed and transformed rhythm and blues forever,”. “You will always be in our hearts.”. “.
Guitarist and producer Rogers wrote about his first encounter with D’Angelo, recalling that the late star, who was then rising, had been urged to release his material because it was “perfect.”.
“One of those songs came on the radio about a year later. “It was brilliant, and he had played it just for me,” Rogers wrote. “I understand. The original cassette is still in my possession. “..”.
Hill, a rapper and singer who collaborated with D’Angelo early in his career, posted a similarly long and intimate reflection, stating that his “beauty and talent were not of this world”.
“To a generation that only saw itself as having to be one or the other, you pictured a unity of strength and sensitivity in Black manhood,” she wrote.
Singers Jennifer Hudson and Jill Scott, as well as fellow rappers Doja Cat and Missy Elliot, also paid their respects.
Doja Cat declared on X, “A true voice of soul and inspiration to many brilliant artists of our generation and generations to come.”.
“Rest Peacefully D’Angelo,” Elliot, who was rising to prominence in hip-hop at the same time as the soul singer’s ascent in the late 1990s, posted.
“I’ve never met D’Angelo, but I love him, respect him, and admire his gift,” Scott wrote on social media. “,”.
It was observed by Hudson that “we lost a true original today”. “Your voice will endure forever, D’Angelo. God bless you, King.
“We are so lucky to have been alive to enjoy his art,” Tyler the Creator wrote, claiming that D’Angelo influenced his “musical DNA.”.
D’Angelo started out as a songwriter and collaborated with well-known musicians like Lauryn Hill and The Roots.
He became well-known in the 1990s after releasing his first album, Brown Sugar. In 1996, his song “Lady” from that album peaked at number 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.
That song cemented his place in the music industry and garnered him several Grammy nominations.
D’Angelo was born in Richmond, Virginia, the son of a Pentecostal minister, and at the age of three, he taught himself to play the piano.
During his teenage years, he played in local bands such as Michael Archer and Precise, Three of a Kind, and Intelligent, Deadly but Unique (I. A. U. ).
He won the amateur talent competition at the Apollo Theater in Harlem for three weeks in a row when he was eighteen. He was then promptly signed to a publishing contract with EMI.
His 1995 debut album, Brown Sugar, made him a commercial force, and his 2000 follow-up, Voodoo, earned him two Grammys.
But he later battled alcoholism and almost lost his life in a car accident in 2005.
After witnessing the national upheaval brought on by demonstrations against the inability to convict police officers in the killings of unarmed black men Michael Brown and Eric Garner, he returned to music in 2014 with Black Messiah, an album that had been in the works for years.
